


into the air

by Menya_Savut



Series: preoccupations with humanism [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Gen, Gore, Post-The Trials of Apollo, The Burning Maze (Trials of Apollo) Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 07:59:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16512374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menya_Savut/pseuds/Menya_Savut
Summary: “And finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for! I present to you the Champion of Zeus, Perseus Jackson!”WARNING: Gore(I wrote this after The Burning Maze came out and before The Tyrant's Tomb came out.)(This work can be read as a stand-alone.)





	into the air

It’s the second week of June, warm, bright, and clear. In the morning, Percy takes the subway to 34th Street/Herald Square and heads toward the tallest building in sight. He crosses the lobby to the information desk and asks for clearance for the 600th floor.

The air smells of blossoming flowers and sweet fruit. The gold and silver buildings shimmer in the sunlight. Percy walks until he reaches the largest building at the peak of the mountain, enters into the circular room of columns towering up to the azure domed ceiling.

There are three other people in the room. One is a man in a pinstriped suit, greying hair and beard carefully trimmed. The second man wears a fraying shirt and sun-bleached trousers rolled up to the knees, unruly black hair brushing his shoulders. The third man is in traditional Greek chiton of dazzling white, a bow and quiver strapped to his back. They sit in large thrones that ring the room.

Percy bows. “Lord Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo.”

“Who let you in?” says Zeus irritably. “What do you want?”

“I want to make a deal.”

“What deal?”

“We need time to build the additional temples at Camp Jupiter. I’m asking for no quests, no prophecies or danger, until we finish construction.”

Zeus grunts. “No.”

“In return, I’m offering myself,” says Percy.

Zeus scoffs. “You? What would I do with you?”

“Anything you want.” says Percy. “I know the way of the world requires monsters to hunt demigods, for demigods to devote their lives to you so that Western civilization can survive. Let that all come to me until the temples are built.”

“You’re asking me to defy the Fates themselves,” Zeus snaps. “What makes you so arrogant to think that I’d do something like that for you?”

“You offered me immortality,” Percy says. “I’m asking for less than that. Just until the temples are built. Then you can go back to how the world usually is.”

He doesn’t look at his father.

“Percy,” says Apollo.

Percy closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them again. He looks at Zeus, god of all gods.

“That’s my deal. Time, in exchange for me.”

 

The sun is much too bright. It beats against his skin, glances off his blade in a shard of piercing white. The horse beneath him trembles with nervous energy, but Percy keeps his knees tight. He leads it forward into the center of the arena, feels the dust rise from its hoofsteps and settle on his tongue, in the creases of his eyes. The noise around him is deafening; the stands are packed, but through the sunlight, everything looks like a blur.

A booming voice slices through the cacophony.

“ _And finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for! I present to you the Champion of Zeus, Perseus Jackson!”_

He can smell the rancid odor of the beasts, hidden behind the metal doors at the other end of the arena. He looks up into the mass of people roiling above him, raises his blade, and roars.

 

_It’s the day after graduation. Annabeth doesn’t seem surprised to find Percy at her door._

_“Come inside.”_

_She leads him into kitchen. They sit at the table, covered in notes and drawings._

_“You’re still working on them?” Percy asks._

_Annabeth sighs. “There’s a lot to think about. We might have to move a few of the existing temples, and some of the building materials are really hard to find...” She shakes her head. “Anyway...what did you want to talk about?”_

_“This, actually,” Percy says, gesturing to the table. “In a way...”_

_His fingers pass over a sketch of a hillside dotted with small buildings; at the edges of the page are notes written in small, crooked handwriting._

_“I’m going to try to go up to Olympus and talk to Zeus,” says Percy._

_“About what?” asks Annabeth. She doesn’t tell him it’s a stupid idea, or that he shouldn’t do it._

_“If you guys are gonna have time to actually build all these temples, you can’t be getting into mortal danger all the time.”_

_“So what’s your plan?” Still Annabeth’s voice is even._

_“I’m gonna offer up myself,” says Percy. “He can do whatever he wants with me, send the monsters and enemies my way, just as long as you guys aren’t bothered.”_

_“Finishing construction could take years,” Annabeth says._

_“I know,” says Percy._

_Annabeth stares down at an open notebook in front of her, then snaps it shut. “This isn’t the way to deal with—”_

_“I know,” says Percy. “I’m not trying to – I dunno, get over it or something – if we’re ever gonna have anything close to a normal life, those temples have to get built. And this is the best way I can think of for me to help.”_

_“Are you sure?” asks Annabeth. She fixes her sharp, grey eyes on him. “Are you absolutely sure?”_

_Percy presses his thumb against the words on the page. “I’m sorry.”_

_“I’ll always support you,” says Annabeth. “If you’ve got your mind set on this...I love you. You know that, right?”_

_Percy gazes at the words until they slide out of focus. “Yeah. I love you too.”_

He’d wake up at the crack of dawn, dress, cross the palace to Zeus’s quarters, and bang on the door.

“They’re fine!” Zeus would snap, glowering in his nightclothes. “Just like every other day.”

Then he’d make his way down to the arena and battle until noon. Then the infirmary, where Apollo would stitch him back together. Then the training ground, where he’d practice until dusk. Then back to bed.

 

He remembers the banging on his window on the night of the biggest thunderstorm of the year, remembers Nico and Will on the fire escape, soaked through, remembers their fingers twisting in his shirt, their tears soaking the crook of his neck, the Earth falling away from him...

 

_It’s mid-April. He’s lying on the couch in the living room, his little sister blinking sleepily on his chest. Percy traces the curve of her nose and hums softly, until her eyes finally close and he hears the soft whispers of baby breaths._

_He hears the front door open and close, and rustling in the kitchen. Then his mom is coming to sit on the floor by the couch. She smiles and squeezes his wrist._

_“Don’t tell her about me,” says Percy._

_He hates to see his mother’s eyes fill with tears. “Percy...”_

_“It can’t be anyone else. The only person Zeus would ever consider is me. Someone needs to do this...”_

_“All I ever wanted was for you to be safe,” she says, her voice trembling as much as Percy’s heart. “And now you want to get torn to shreds day after day—”_

_“I’ll come back to you,” Percy says. “I promise. It’s not for forever. I’ll be back before you know it...”_

_His little sister snuffles against him. Percy cups her head in the palm of his hand._

_He feels his mother kiss his elbow._

He can see his intestines; they’re crawling out of the horrible gash in his stomach and he’s sure he must be screaming but he can’t hear anything – someone is hovering above him – golden hair; it must be Apollo – he says something to Percy but he can’t possibly understand it, and then the world grows blessedly dark...

 

He’s dreaming. He’s in the laundry room of the apartment, and he’s pulling clothes out of the dryer. Nico’s sitting on top of the washing machine, a laundry basket beside him; Percy passes Nico a shirt and Nico starts dutifully folding it.

“How much longer until Thanksgiving break?” Percy asks.

Nico scrunches up his face. “Two whole weeks _._ And I have a Calculus test right before then...”

“You’ll do great,” Percy says. “Come on, the way you’ve been studying? You must have memorized the textbook by now.”

“I wish,” Nico huffs. He finishes folding the shirt, and Percy hands him a hoodie. It’s one of Will’s; there’s a hole in the pocket where Will once spilled acid on it. Nico regards the hoodie critically, then pulls it on.

Percy smiles. “Just two more weeks, and then you can sleep in ‘til noon and tear up the house and bother me until I want to wring your neck...”

Nico scowls. Percy passes him a stack of folded clothes and Nico deposits it in the basket.

“Come on. Dinner,” says Percy. “Even Calculus isn’t a good enough excuse to skip meals.”

 

Percy doesn’t know how much time passes. Every day is the same: slaughter in the morning, recover during midday, train until sunset. All Percy knows is the feeling of claws and teeth ripping his flesh, the blinding sun, the smell of death...

He comes to, as usual, in the early afternoon. But he’s not in the infirmary; he’s in his room. A shadow passes over him, and he looks up; it’s his father. He sits at the edge of Percy’s bed.

“You did well today,” he says. “That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen anyone take down a hydra. And the way you disemboweled the manticore was remarkable.”

“Thanks,” says Percy.

For the longest time, Poseidon is silent. Then he reaches out his hand and starts carding his fingers through Percy’s hair.

Percy’s eyes flutter shut.

“Do you think you’re going to come out of this unscathed?” Poseidon asks. His tone isn’t stern or mocking, just light.

Percy keeps his eyes closed.

“I know you resent that nothing seems to matter to us gods,” his father continues, still in that light voice. “But if all this, everything that’s happening to you, doesn’t matter to you...”

“It doesn’t matter to _me_ ,” says Percy. “Or it does...it’s the most important thing...I’m giving a gift...because I love my friends.”

Percy needs to get up; there’s hours of training ahead, but somehow he feels his limbs melting into the mattress...

 

He’s dreaming again. He’s sitting on the lower beam of the Queensboro Bridge overlooking the East River. It’s a bright summer day, rich blue sky, puffy white clouds. Luke is sitting beside him, hair billowing in the breeze.

“That one looks like a centaur,” he says to Percy, pointing up to one of the clouds.

“Are you kidding?” Percy says. “That’s a pegasus. What centaur has arms shaped like that?”

“That’s his bow, stupid,” Luke says. “If that’s a pegasus, it’s got the smallest head of any pegasus I’ve seen.”

“Maybe its head is turned,” says Percy.

Luke rolls his eyes and grins. “Fine, that’s your pegasus, Percy. Go on and ride him into battle, see if everyone thinks you’re an idiot.”

“Hey! My small-headed pegasus could beat your wonky-armed centaur any day!”

They’re laughing, their voices carried away by the wind.

“Are you excited?”

Percy looks at Luke. “Excited for what?”

“To move to California,” says Luke. “That’s all the way across the country. It’s gonna be really different.”

“Yeah,” says Percy. “I’m excited to move in with Annabeth.”

“She’s gonna drive you crazy. Isn’t she double majoring in like, architecture and history or something?”

“Architecture and philosophy,” says Percy. “And I’ll be keeping busy too. Reyna says we can start working on the new programs at Camp Jupiter. Honestly, I think I’ll be seeing her and Frank more than I’ll see Annabeth.”

“Hey,” says Luke. His eyes are bright, and there’s a hint of a smile on his lips. “Good luck. I mean it.”

Percy smiles back. “Thanks.”

 

When Percy bangs on Zeus’s bedroom door as usual, Zeus wrenches it open and yells, “Go away!”

“My friends—”

“They’re _fine._ Get out of my sight – get off Olympus—”

Percy growls. “We had a deal—”

“You said I could do whatever I want with you. Well, I don’t want to see you today!”

When Percy exits the palace, there’s a giant golden eagle waiting in the courtyard. It turns its head toward him, and Percy climbs on. They take off, traveling over the blanket of clouds until Olympus is just a dark speck behind them.

The eagle dives below the clouds, and Percy can see the familiar curve where the land meets the sea. The eagle descends until it’s only a few feet above the surface, and Percy slides off its back and into the water. He propels himself deeper and deeper, until only blackness surrounds him and the sky might as well be a million miles away.

 

He resurfaces at sunset. The eagle approaches and skims the surface of the water, and Percy clambers on. With a powerful beat of its wings, they climb up into the sky.

 

Another dream. He’s lying in bed in his room at home, and it’s the middle of the night. There’s a knock at his door, and then it opens slowly.

Jason comes to sit at the edge of his bed. “I can’t sleep,” he says.

“Why not?” Percy asks. He reaches for Jason and guides the other boy to lie down next to him.

“Dunno,” says Jason. “I can’t get my brain to turn off.” He wiggles until he’s under the covers, and Percy rests his head on the other boy’s shoulder.

“What are you thinking about?” asks Percy.

“I just keep going over everything for tomorrow, and what Chiron will say, and Thalia’s message...” Jason sighs and presses his cheek into Percy’s hair. “I know I’m overreacting.”

“You’re not overreacting,” says Percy. “I’ll get the charts back to you as soon as I can—”

“Hey, don’t sweat it,” says Jason, and Percy laughs quietly into his shoulder.

“We need to _sleep_. We’re both gonna be useless tomorrow if we stay up all night telling each other everything’s gonna be okay.”

Percy hears Jason exhale softly above him. “Everything _is_ gonna be okay. It’ll be okay tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day...”

“And the next day,” says Percy. “Exactly. Now go to sleep.”

Jason sighs, and Percy feels him relax beside him. “Goodnight. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Goodnight,” says Percy. “I’m glad you’re here too.”

 

The day is over. Percy heads down the mountain until he reaches the little outcropping that faces the setting sun. It’s already dipped below the layer of clouds by now, but the sky is still a beautiful swath of reds and oranges. Percy sits down among the long grasses and the wildflowers, and watches as the stars begin to adorn the deepening blue of the sky.

He senses a presence beside him. It’s Apollo.

“May I join you?” he asks.

Percy nods, and Apollo lowers himself to sit beside him. For a moment, they’re silent, gazing up at the stars.

“I’ve failed him,” Apollo murmurs eventually.

“You haven’t failed him,” says Percy. “You put me back together every day.”

“I shouldn’t have to, because you shouldn’t have to be here,” says Apollo.

Percy shakes his head. “You’re just one person. He never expected you to change the universe.”

“No one expects you to either,” says Apollo.

Percy breathes in, lets the scent of the crisp night air and the flowers fill his lungs. The sky is deepening. More stars appear, until their little pinpricks fill the expanse of neverending blue.

“I don’t mind,” he says.

**Author's Note:**

> who’s still writing in present tense? surely not i  
> this is a fic of songs. the title comes from Wrapped in Piano Strings by Radical Face. The last line comes from Small Hands also by Radical Face. special thanks to two more songs that i listened to pretty much on repeat while i wrote this – Pentecost Red by Laurena Segura, and I Found by Amber Run.


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